What's new in Maya 2018

This release includes major workflow improvements and new features aimed at making content creation easier than ever before.

The new UV Editor modernizes the UV workflow, giving you powerful tools to create UV layouts with ease. Together with enhanced global symmetry support all throughout Maya, as well as improvements to Quad Draw, Multi-Cut, and Live objects, you can now create and texture models faster than ever.

A new clumping modifier makes Interactive XGen grooms more natural by breaking up uniform flow, while a collision modifier allows hair to react to other meshes (such as hats). Meanwhile, general workflow improvements and a new Shaderfx Game Hair shader now make this the ideal tool to create hair for game characters. You can also check out our new XGen Learning Paths for help on figuring out which kind of groom to use.

Updates to Viewport 2.0 that make it compatible with OSD 3.1, complex shading networks, displacements, light shadows, and ambient occlusion, provide a better realtime idea of what your rendered images will look like. Additionally, enhancements to the Render Setup system make it easier to create and adjust collections and overrides, as well as sequence and batch render. Arnold 5 is included with your installation of Maya, and includes features such as new physically based surface, hair and volume shaders, new utility shaders, support for light group AOVs and light path expressions, and improved color management support.

New MASH Dynamics allow you to apply dynamic properties to MASH networks, which stack with existing MASH nodes to quickly create visually stunning motion graphics with just a few clicks. Try combining them with the new primitives, which allow you to create complex organic shapes and animate them on the fly.

Numerous improvements have also been made to Bifrost and Animation to expand their capabilities when working with foam and time formats respectively.

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